Ciudad Constitución

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Ciudad Constitución road sign on Highway 1, south of town.

Ciudad Constitución is a town in Baja California Sur, Mexico. It is the seat of the municipality of Comondú and is located 210 kilometers north of La Paz, Baja California Sur and 147 kilometers south of Loreto, Baja California Sur. Ciudad Constitución's population was 37,221 inhabitants at the 2005 census. It is the fourth-largest community in the state (behind La Paz, Cabo San Lucas, and San José del Cabo). Ciudad Constitución is a small city which serves as a gateway to Magdalena Bay. It is also close to the Baja 1000 course.

The colonization of Valle de Santo Domingo (Valley of Santo Domingo) originated around 1940. A ranch called El Crucero (The Crossroad) was settled in a crossroad. Because of this, people started to gather around it and the population started to grow. It quickly became a commercial hub and an obligated travel stop for all the inhabitants of Valle de Santo Domingo, as well as for people going north or south the peninsula. Then, it became known as Villa Constitución, and later, Ciudad Constitución. Even today, many locals still call it "El Crucero". Every 5th of February the city becomes the state's capital for one day. Since 1996, the Instituto Tecnológico Superior de Ciudad Constitución serves as a higher education institution.

Ciudad Constitución's mainstay is the cultivation of wheat, chickpea, cotton, asparagus, citrics, vegetables, among others crops. The city also has a dairy products processing plant (pasteurized milk, yogurt, fruit beverages): "Unión de Ejidos 20 de Noviembre". Ciudad Constitución has a few small hotels (Hotel El Conquistador, Hotel Conchita, Hotel Maribel, Hotel Ryal), supermarkets (Super Ley, Supermercado El Crucero, Super Peralta), gas stations, travel agencies (Viajes Pedrín), etc. The city's nearest airports are located in Loreto (Loreto International Airport, La Paz (Manuel Márquez de León International Airport) and San José del Cabo (Los Cabos International Airport), but small aircraft make use of local dirt runaways. Autotransportes Águila is a bus line which covers all the length of the Baja California Peninsula, mainly along Mexican Federal Highway 1 (also known as "Carretera Transpeninsular"), and has an office in Ciudad Constitución.

In Ciudad Constitución and nearby areas mobile phone service is provided by Telcel (AMPS/TDMA 800) and Movistar (AMPS 800), both carriers also operate newer GSM 1900 networks. The Mexican long distance area code for the municipalities of Comondú and Loreto is 613. Internet access is possible in cybercafes through the city's downtown, as well as by dial-up access from regular landlines. Communication with remote areas of Valle de Santo Domingo, nearby islands, and other remote regions of the municipality of Comondú is mainly possible by means of a local AM radio station (XEVSD 1440 kHz).